Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by Dope:

Batch 288, bottled 7/23/10 so coming up on 2 years old. 9.6% ABV on this batch.

A: A basically pitch-black oily pour with one of the darkest brown heads I've ever seen. Roughly the color of chocolate. Head is huge and very dense to boot. Retention is wonderful, barely fades at all. This would be a 5 but there is just a bit of spotty lacing, not as good as I expected. Alas.

S: A pleasant smell but hard to describe. There is the obvious roasted malt with a touch of chocolate, but there is some sort of spicy aroma to it. I'm assuming that's from the Akevitt barrel but I have never had or smelled this liquor before so I can't say for sure. Smells almost a little like rye with a little bit of molasses in there.

T: Loaded with roasted malt, heavy coffee and just a hint of chocolate. Touch of smoke. Some spiciness to it that's still hard to put my finger on, again almost like rye - mainly in the finish. Provides a bit of an odd spice to this porter. Lingering coffee bitterness in the aftertaste.

M: Pretty thick and mouth coating.

O: Very unique barrel aged porter. I thought the odd herbal/spice (of what I presume to be the akevitt) was a bit detracting from the taste, but honestly that doesn't make it bad. Just different. Better once fully warmed.

Pours black with a 1.5-finger light brown head. The head recedes into a wispy layer on top leaving solid lacing.

Smells of equal amounts roasted malts and dark chocolate with good amounts of anise and spicy alcohol undertones. As it warms an indistinct spiciness intensifies.

Tastes good. Strong roasted malt flavors with an ashy quality kick things off and are joined quickly by mild dark chocolate flavors. Midway through the sip a good amount of earthy spices, including anise, take over along with a strange artificial-tasting sweetness and carry through to a mildly bitter ending. Mild spicy flavors and charred malt flavors linger on the palate.

Mouthfeel is very good. It's got a very nice thickness with grainy carbonation.

Drinkability is alright. I finished my glass without a problem however I'm not sure about another.

Overall this was a very unique beer with the combination of charred malt and spices. I recommend not letting this warm up too much as the charred malt becomes a bit overpowering. Worth a shot.

500ml bottle, 8% ABV. Can't say that I've had a lot of Scandinavian aquavit (spelling varies), but from what I remember, it's like herbal or spiced vodka. Should be interesting, at least.

This beer pours a stout emulating, motor-oil black, with ever so slight cola highlights, and one finger of bubbly, soapy Brown Cow head, which bleeds away very quickly, leaving but a few forlorn arcs of amoebic lace around the glass in the process. To the point - I likey.

On the nose, the aroma verily jumps out at you, what with the roasted chocolate malt, dry coffee, herbal hop twang, and a slight sugary pear fruitiness. The taste is sweet licorice and vanilla-laced caramel malt, baker's chocolate, mild coffee, and a soft herbal drupe character, as if the weak choice of aquavit as barrel treatment will not go unheard.

The bubbles are quite sedate, but still make themselves noticeable at times, the body a decent medium weight, smooth, and a tad sugary. It finishes still rather sweet - chocolate, tame coffee, vanilla, and a muddled fruitiness still keepin' the party pumpin'. Urgh.

Anyways, this is a hell of a porter, given its big stout leanings. Less successful are the barrel effects - a slight herb and fruit whiff is all I got, and seems like a bit of a waste of the time invested, even if the resultant product gets on just fine without it.

Appearance: Pours an almost black but not translucent dark brown with a half inch head that slow dissipates to a nice thin creamy brown mocha.

Smell: Barrels, coffee, spices, a little bit of alcohol on the nose. There is some dark chocolate and some wood also.

Taste: It comes out with the dark chocolate with a little sweetness from likely the barrels. I am getting the coffee as well at the end but not like you would expect. leaves the mouth slightly dry but finishes smooth. Lets see how it warms up. I might be getting some hops in there that is what might be leaving my tongue slightly dry. Now there is some vanilla coming out. After further google investigation, the Aquavit Barrels were used to age a liquor that was fermented with spices and herbs. They said Dill and also Caraway seeds, and now it does have some slight dill character.

Mouthfeel: Medium to thick body with nice carbonation on the tongue.

Overall: This is a very interesting beer with very slight nuances that set it aside from other BA porters. The Aquavit Barrels have added that slight twist and make it perfect style for Norway and there drinking culture. Thanks Norway for my first Euro BA beer. Yummy.

Pours a near black color with a dense toasted khaki colored head that settled into a sparse cap.

The aroma is of a subtle milk chocolate and vanilla, tootsie roll, with some alcohol vapors. There is a non-descript herbal characteristic, perhaps mint.

The taste is of a chocolatey porter. Nice roasted notes as well as a dash of coffee. There are some light herbal notes; juniper and spruce. A light sour punch in the end. This is more porter than anything else. The barrel aging seems subtle but does add a bit of booziness.

The feel is moderate to well bodied with prickly caronbation. Drinks well but there is a roasty bitterness that weighs it down.

Traditional porter with some added notes from the barrel aging. Perhaps a bit too much ABV. A good pickup, interesting. Seems the herbal flavors balance out the malt.

Black with a dense layer of chocolate milkshake foam on the surface. It doesn't lace much, but the retention is good considering it's 10% abv. The lace slowly ebbs back into the foam it came from. Trails of tiny bubbles are visible at it's edges.

Chewy feel with some initial bitter black char, that slowly evolves over time. At first it's big and brash with bitter dark chocolate, becoming mellow with traces of wood and tobacco in the finish, with occasional flashes of unknown herbals. The long, slow fade of it's flavors really make me want to slow down and take my time with this. Definitely rich, this surpasses RIS' from lesser breweries. Carbonation is mellow and the alcohol is in check.

500 ml bottle, Batch #225, bottled 9/15/2009. Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch brown head. Head retention and lacing are both decent. Aroma is chocolate, caramel, roasted malt, dark fruit and some oak. It's a mostly sweet and strong aroma. There's a lot going on with the taste of this brew! I can taste roasted malt, licorice, caramel, smoke, oak, dark fruit, herbs, vanilla and chocolate. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's slick and creamy with good carbonation. Drinkability is pretty good, it's smooth and just plain goes down easy. I think this is a very enjoyable brew, I've liked the other beers I've had from HaandBryggeriet in the past, and this one is likely the best one I've tried from them.

T/MF: Mmm. The flavors are pretty light, too. Roasted flavor is between bittersweet chocolate and light coffee. Herbal and anise notes to compliment. Very slight char on the back end, and into the finish.

Nothing really stand-out about it, but it's just a nice porter with an interesting twist. Not quite as good as the Odin's Tipple or Dark Force, but still good in it's own right.

Bottle: Poured a dark black color porter with a nice thick brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of chocolate malt with light dry roasted malt with some liquor notes. Taste is also a nice mix between some barrel-aged liquor notes with some black chocolate and some dry roasted malt notes. The barrel-aging is well balanced and cut some of the rough edges. Body is quite full with great carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Very enjoyable beer and really enjoyed the spirit notes that came through this one.

Bottle shared by Mike at Bob's tasting. This is clearly my first time drinking a beer aged in akevitta/aquavit barrels.

Pours pitch black, with a small half inch head, and a little bit of lacing down the glass.

Smells like roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and some interesting spices/herbs that remind me of menthol or spearmint.

The taste is similar. The barrels provide an interesting dimension to this porter. I'm not getting a whole lot of "barrel character-" meaning oak, vanilla, coconut, etc, but the spirit itself provides an interesting character, slightly fruity, with sort of a menthol of spearmint character that really works with the base porter, which is delicious on its own- lots of roasted malt, coffee, and chocolate. Slightly bitter finish from the roast.